Metropolitan Porfirije’s expostion at the General Assembly of the CEC

Metropolitan Porfirije: - Despite good legal regulations, it is impossible to achieve a high-standard implementation of religious minority rights without a good will.

Speaking about the rights of Christians in Serbia and Croatia and throughout Europe, at the session of the General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches in Novi Sad, on June 4, 2018, His Eminence Metropolitan Porfirije of Zagreb-Ljubljana particularly referred to the Serbian Orthodox people who are a minority in the Republic of Croatia.

- We are aware of the fact that, despite the developed legislation, problems relating to the inclusion of religious minorities are not only actual, but sometimes tragic in the most developed countries with deeply rooted democratic traditions. A good will is necessary. Even if we have and apply European laws that regulate minority rights and give that community an opportunity to be respected and accepted, without a good will on both sides this will not be achieved to the end and in the most perfect way, Metropolitan Porfirije said.

The Metropolitan states which are the current challenges of religious minorities in Europe, which is the best method of a fair treatment of religious minorities in European tradition and which is the role of international factors while fighting against violation of the rights of religious minorities. - We need each other to be a Church; we need each other to be Christians and good people. I want to say that we must be particularly sensitive towards minorities and ready to meet with their requests everywhere in the world, not only in this region, and to show goodwill, Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana pointed out at the General Assembly of the CEC.

In addition to it, the Metropolitan presented a film about the present state of religious minorities, in the Congress hall of the Master-Center. This film was shot in 2017 in Brussels.

We indicate that in the organization of the Conference of European Churches, the European Parliament Working Group on Anti-racism and Diversity, the Religious Commission for Migrants in Europe and the Metropolitanate of Zagreb-Ljubljana, an international conference on religious minorities as a part of culturally diverse societies was held in the Orthodox Grammar School in Zagreb in 2016.

Source: Diocese of  Bachka (translated by the Information Service of the SOC)